Following her introduction to the Doctor’s perception-altering life outside the University in last week’s “The Pilot” (reviewed HERE), eager beaver Bill (Pearl Mackie) was given her first proper test drive in the T.A.R.D.I.S. this Saturday. Aside from a perfunctory cameo which established a curious father-son dynamic between the Time Lord (Peter Capaldi) and cheeky sidekick Nardole (Matt Lucas), the bald alien was all but absent from proceedings, giving the new companion an opportunity to bond with her new “lecturer.”

Transposing the setting of Joan G. Robinson’s 1967 children’s book from North Norfolk to Sapporo, Japan, Arrietty director Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s second feature film is otherwise respectfully dutiful to its classic source material – a book which Studio Ghibli founder Hayau Miyazaki proclaimed one of his top fifty children’s stories of all time.